Bertha Runkle
Encyclopedia
Bertha Runkle was an American
novelist and playwright
born in Berkeley Heights
, New Jersey
. From a literary family, she wrote five novels. Her first and best known, The Helmet of Navarre
, was made into a Broadway play.
. She grew up in a literary family. Her father, Cornelius A. Runkle (1833–1888), had been a respected New York lawyer
who had served as legal counsel for the New York Tribune
where her mother, Lucia (Gilbert) Runkle, had worked as an editorial writer and who was reportedly the first American woman to be on the staff of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Later she wrote for the Christian Union
, later The Outlook
, and for ten years Mrs. Runkle was the literary adviser of Harper & Brothers
, her work including French and German manuscripts and books, as well as English. In 1893 she undertook, with Charles Dudley Warner
, the enormous labor which is represented in the thirty volumes of Library of the World's Best Literature.
It was quite by chance that Mrs. Runkle one day came upon a poem of her daughter's which she was anxious to have judged on its merits by that keen critic, the editor-in-chief. With no clue to the authorship, he was delighted with its strength, its unusual form, and the splendid swing of the lines. The poem was at once ordered into "The World's Best Literature," and Edmund Clarence Stedman
afterward included it in his American Anthology. So good rank did Runkle's work take in the judgment of two eminent critics, when she was hardly more than a school-girl, that she was sent to Miss Bracket's school, a fashionable girls' boarding school in New York, till she was thirteen, when she was taken away because of delicate health. From that time she was schooled in the large home library, and studied with her mother.
From an early age, she kept a notebook in which she wrote stories. When she tired of one, she would leave it unfinished and begin another, thus becoming accustomed to what in the professional world is the life of a writer. In 1893 her mother purchased a small piece of land at Onteora, Tannersville
, New York, and upon it built a house where she and her daughter lived every summer. Here she taught herself how to write a successful novel, and also how to play golf and tennis, becoming an avid player of both.
was first serialized in The Century Magazine
. She had the story in her mind for two years or so, and the actual writing took about four months. The title was taken from a passage in Thomas Babbington Macaulay's poem Ivry, which its author adopted as a motto:
Its first form was much shorter, and it was a tale of political intrigue and martial adventure, without a heroine. But the editor of The Century Company insisted that a spoiled public would not be content without "the swish of the petticoats" and a dozen more chapters were called for, which she supplied.
The magazine serialization had been so well received that 100,000 copies were printed for the first edition of the book. The book went on to become No. 3 on the list of bestselling novels in the United States for the entire year of 1901 as determined by the New York Times. The year of its release, she teamed up with playwright
Lawrence Marston to adapt her story to the Broadway
stage in a production by Charles Frohman
.
. He had subsequently been reassigned to the Philippines and the couple returned there after the wedding where they spent three years. They moved to San Antonio, Texas
in 1909 and later to Washington, D.C. On her return from the Philippines, she gave an interview to the New York Times about her experience in that country,
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
born in Berkeley Heights
Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Berkeley Heights is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 13,183....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. From a literary family, she wrote five novels. Her first and best known, The Helmet of Navarre
The Helmet of Navarre
The Helmet of Navarre is a historical novel by American writer Bertha Runkle published in 1901. It first appeared in serial form in the magazine The Century Magazine in 1900...
, was made into a Broadway play.
Literary family
Her father died when she was nine, at which time she and her mother moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She grew up in a literary family. Her father, Cornelius A. Runkle (1833–1888), had been a respected New York lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who had served as legal counsel for the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
where her mother, Lucia (Gilbert) Runkle, had worked as an editorial writer and who was reportedly the first American woman to be on the staff of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Later she wrote for the Christian Union
Christian Union (disambiguation)
Christian Union may refer to:*Christian Union , a university or college student Christian group*ChristianUnion, a Dutch political party *Churches of Christ in Christian Union, an evangelical Christian denomination in the U.S....
, later The Outlook
The Outlook (New York)
The Outlook was a weekly magazine, published in New York City.-History:In 1900, the ranking weekly journals of news and opinion were The Independent , The Nation , the Outlook , and in a different class or with a different emphasis, The Literary Digest .-Notable contributors:*Theodore Roosevelt...
, and for ten years Mrs. Runkle was the literary adviser of Harper & Brothers
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
, her work including French and German manuscripts and books, as well as English. In 1893 she undertook, with Charles Dudley Warner
Charles Dudley Warner
Charles Dudley Warner was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.-Biography:...
, the enormous labor which is represented in the thirty volumes of Library of the World's Best Literature.
It was quite by chance that Mrs. Runkle one day came upon a poem of her daughter's which she was anxious to have judged on its merits by that keen critic, the editor-in-chief. With no clue to the authorship, he was delighted with its strength, its unusual form, and the splendid swing of the lines. The poem was at once ordered into "The World's Best Literature," and Edmund Clarence Stedman
Edmund Clarence Stedman
Edmund Clarence Stedman , American poet, critic, and essayist was born at Hartford, Connecticut, United States.-Biography:...
afterward included it in his American Anthology. So good rank did Runkle's work take in the judgment of two eminent critics, when she was hardly more than a school-girl, that she was sent to Miss Bracket's school, a fashionable girls' boarding school in New York, till she was thirteen, when she was taken away because of delicate health. From that time she was schooled in the large home library, and studied with her mother.
From an early age, she kept a notebook in which she wrote stories. When she tired of one, she would leave it unfinished and begin another, thus becoming accustomed to what in the professional world is the life of a writer. In 1893 her mother purchased a small piece of land at Onteora, Tannersville
Tannersville, New York
Tannersville is a village in Greene County, New York, USA. The village is in the east-central part of the town of Hunter on Route 23A. The population was 539 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, New York, and upon it built a house where she and her daughter lived every summer. Here she taught herself how to write a successful novel, and also how to play golf and tennis, becoming an avid player of both.
The Helmet of Navarre
Bertha Runkle was only twenty-one years old when her book The Helmet of NavarreThe Helmet of Navarre
The Helmet of Navarre is a historical novel by American writer Bertha Runkle published in 1901. It first appeared in serial form in the magazine The Century Magazine in 1900...
was first serialized in The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine was first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City as a successor to Scribner's Monthly Magazine...
. She had the story in her mind for two years or so, and the actual writing took about four months. The title was taken from a passage in Thomas Babbington Macaulay's poem Ivry, which its author adopted as a motto:
"Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war,
"And be your oriflammeOriflammeThe Oriflamme was the battle standard of the King of France.It was originally the sacred banner of the Abbey of St. Denis, a monastery near Paris. The banner was red or orange-red and flown from a lance. It was suggested that the lance was originally the important object, with the banner a...
today, the helmet of NavarreNavarreNavarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
."
Its first form was much shorter, and it was a tale of political intrigue and martial adventure, without a heroine. But the editor of The Century Company insisted that a spoiled public would not be content without "the swish of the petticoats" and a dozen more chapters were called for, which she supplied.
The magazine serialization had been so well received that 100,000 copies were printed for the first edition of the book. The book went on to become No. 3 on the list of bestselling novels in the United States for the entire year of 1901 as determined by the New York Times. The year of its release, she teamed up with playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Lawrence Marston to adapt her story to the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage in a production by Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
.
The Truth About Tolna
The magazine for which her mother had written, The Outlook, had the following to say about Runkles second novel, The Truth About Tolna."The young lady who achieved popularity at a single stroke, Miss Bertha Runkle, has written of an American fortnight almost as crowded with events as were those few amazing days in The Helmet of Navarre. There are a dash and vigor about the handling of this novel of modern New York life that will carry it, perhaps, beyond its real merits. The double character forced upon Tolna by his artistic friend and manager gives opportunity for several farcical situations and an occasional semi-tragic note. Tolna and Mrs. Burnham are most entertaining. Denys Alden is less convincing than some other members of his social set."
The Scarlet Rider
The Bookman had the following to say about The Scarlet Rider,
"The scene of this new story is the Isle of Wight, the date is the period of the American Revolution, and the centre of interest is an aristocratic but impoverished family in which the title, in the absence of male heirs, will descend to the beautiful but headstrong and undisciplined daughter who has been left to bring herself up as best she could. Her unhappy neglected and invalid mother seldom leaves her own chamber, while her dissolute spendthrift father is, for the most part, away from home, engaged in diversions of which drinking and gaming form the mildest elements.
At the opening of the story the whole neighbourhood is in a turmoil concerning a certain audacious highwayman, known only as the "Scarlet Rider", who has been terrorising all the southern coast of England. Consequently, when Lettice, the madcap daughter of Lord Yarracombe, finds a handsome young stranger hiding behind a chest in a cobwebbed room of the old house, it is only natural that she should leap to the conclusion that he is the highwayman in question, and quite in keeping with her adventurous spirit that she should seek to shield him by letting him masquerade as the new assistant butler.
The situation is well developed and the whole tone of the narrative has a well sustained lightness with just a hint of tragedy lurking beneath the surface. But the one little fact which robs this moment of its promised bigness is that the secret of the story is far too transparent. It takes no special cleverness to discover the Scarlet Rider's identity before the book is one third read and the only remaining surprise is at the density of the other actors in the story who are phenomenally long in discovering the truth."
Straight Down the Crooked Lane
Country Life in America had the following to say about Runkle's fourth novel, Straight Down the Crooked Lane,"A straightforward story about folks who are recognizably human, as well as interesting; and the narrative gets off swiftly in the first chapter and never slackens until the end. The scene shifts from Newport high society life to the Philippines; making stops in Japan and India. "Straight Down the Crooked Lane" has all the story-telling charm of "The Helmet of Navarre"; but it deals with people and places of today, and is enriched by the author's fuller years of artistic endeavor. It is undoubtedly the best novel so far achieved by that past master of story telling, Bertha Runkle."
Marriage
On October 26, 1904, Runkle married Captain Louis Hermann Bash in San Francisco. She had met him on a previous visit when he was stationedf at the Presidio of San FranciscoPresidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
. He had subsequently been reassigned to the Philippines and the couple returned there after the wedding where they spent three years. They moved to San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
in 1909 and later to Washington, D.C. On her return from the Philippines, she gave an interview to the New York Times about her experience in that country,
- NYT: "Do they really like the Americans?"
- Runkle: "That has been one of the problems that i could never solve satisfactorily." "What they object to in us is our free and easy manners." "They feel that we lack the graces and politeness of the Spanish, which they have been used to and which they themselves absorbed." "The native, I think, has deteriorated in manners by contact with the Americans." "The Filipinos learn our language very quickly and they pronounce very well." "They learn to play instruments very well." "Of course, the social and army life in Manila has its amusing side." "One might write a story about the American life in Manila that would resemble 'The GadsbysThe Story of the GadsbysThe Story of the Gadsbys is a story by Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published as no. 2 of the Indian Railway Library in 1888. The Story of the Gadsbys is written in dramatic form, consisting of eight short scenes...
' for instance, but I could scarcely undertake the task."